Being taken to small claims!

carlih1

Hi

When i first start work last july my son was in nursery, it cost me a fortune and i wasn't happy with the service so i took him out.

I owe them some money and now they want to take me to court even after me trying to provide them with a nothly payment.

To be honest i wasn't hapy with the way they worked, things had changed a lot since my daughter went there and i wasn't prepared to let him go there anymore.

Shall i defend the claim or give them the money. I don't have the full amiount so it will have to be monthly payments anyway

c x

MarkyMarkD

Defending the claim is only going to increase your costs, which will already be more than the debt was in the first place.

I think you need to AGREE a monthly payment with them, rather than just assuming they'll accept one.

Poppy9

I think you should pay in full for the days your child went to the nursery. If they are trying to bill you for extra days that he didn't attend because you didn't give a specified notice period then you need to agree something on this. If you have a copy of any note you gave them terminating your contract with them and the reason why that would support your defence claim for notice period.

If they are only billing you for the days attended then you should pay up in full asap. I don't really think in those circumstances it's fair to ask them to take monthly payments as they can't pay their staff on such a basis. You did have the money to pay as you would have been expecting the monthly bill at the time of attendance. The fact you may have now used this money for other purposes is not the nursery's fault.

If you have grave concerns about the nursery's system, staff etc then you should inform Social Services.

carlih1

I did try to agree a monthly payment with them but they sent it to a debt collector before the end of the alloted time to reply.

I will of course pay the debt but i do not have the money, as i am a signle parent and my tax credits took so long to get started i got behind with everything and still am, not to mention that they had stopped for two weeks at the end of last month so am trying to catch up again.

Anyone got any suggestions for a letter to them suggesting repayment scheme?

c x

mountainofdebt

Dear Sirs

Re : Name of Child


As you are aware, my son, [insert name of child], attended your nursery between [insert dates of attendence].

Whilst I agree that the sum of £x is due to you I am unable, due to unforseen circumstances, to repay this amount as a lump sum.

I therefore propose to pay this amount in Y monthy installements and as a guesture of my intentions, I enclose a cheque for £Z which represents the first monthly repayment. Further repayments of £Z will be made on [insert date of the month].

I trust this is acceptable to you and that we can settle this matter in an ambicable fashion.

Yours faithfully

.


BUT IF THEY DO ACCEPT THIS REPAYMENT PLAN, I WOULD STICK TO IT!